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Singles surfing the internet for relationships may need to be a little vary with a new poll showing that a quarter of them believe it is acceptable to tell a little white lie while dating online.
A recent survey of more than 600 singles by engage.com found that 24 per cent of respondents believe it is alright to lie while dating online.
While 30 per cent men believe that it was alright in telling lies while dating online, the corresponding figures for women were 19 per cent.
The world of internet dating has exploded with an earlier PEW internet survey showing that some 31 per cent of American adults say they know someone who has used a dating website and 15 per cent of American adults, about 30 million people, say they know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or married someone he or she met online.
According to the latest "Manners and Behaviors" survey by the Bay Area-based company Engage.Com, 21 per cent of the respondents identified income as the chief topic that singles say it is ok to tell a little white lie about in an online dating profile.
This followed by weight/body type (16 per cent), and age (14 per cent). The stated desire for a relationship and height was equally cited by 12 per cent of singles.
"Truthfulness may be the ideal, but many online daters seem to feel it is both necessary and acceptable to express little white lies," said Joelle Kaufman, Vice President of The Experience at Engage.Com.
When asked how would they describe their dating manners, 82 per cent of singles said they rank themselves good to excellent. And, singles think their own dating manners are better than the manners of the people they date; only 66 per cent of respondents said they grade the manners of their dates as excellent to good.
About acceptable communications ground rules, 30 per cent said it was unobjectionable to blog about their dates or romantic relationships. Moreover, nearly 20 per cent of singles said it was acceptable to discuss details of your relationship break-up on web-based outlets, such as MySpace or YouTube.
More than 80 per cent of respondents, however, said it was improper to break-up with someone via email, chat, IM or text message. Only nine per cent of singles admit to having separated with a girlfriend or boyfriend using these same channels.
The survey also shows that nearly a quarter of singles think it was appropriate to say "I love you" for the first time using email, chat, IM or texting, but only 11 per cent said that they have ever done so.
More men (29 per cent) than women (19 per cent) said declaring love for someone else for the first time is acceptable to do with technological means.
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